The financial losses victims of these crimes sustained amounted to 2.6 billion riyals in Saudi and 110 billion US dollars across the world, the Saudi newspaper al-Watan reported.

The loss sustained by each victim during the same time was estimated at 730 riyals locally and 197 US dollars internationally.

According to lecturer Hala Yelli, 40% of Saudi users of social networking websites living in the kingdom were victims to electronic while this percentage reached 39% on the international level.

“The percentage of internet users were subjected to piracy and identity theft reached 8% in Saudi and 10% internationally,” she said in a lecture she gave to a group of female students as part of the Ministry of Communications Program for the Propagation of Digital Knowledge in the city of Taif.

Yelli added that 52% of Saudis are not aware of the damage malware can inflict on their computers and this percentage is estimated at 40% worldwide.

“Around 45% of Saudis do not use passwords that are strong enough and rarely change their passwords compared to 40% worldwide.”

According to a study conducted by Norton for antivirus software, the percentage of Saudis who were victims to electronic crimes via social networking website or mobile phones reached 20%, compared to 21% worldwide.

The study added that 29% of Saudis received text messages from an unknown number and opened links or called numbers mentioned in those messages. On the other hand, 31% of internet users across the world fell in the same trap.

Why do you think Saudis are falling victim to more electronic crimes than internet users elsewhere? Leave us your comments below!